| Harsiese A | |
|---|---|
 Sarcophagus of king Harsiese A | |
King ofThebes | |
| Reign | 880–860 BC |
| Successor | Takelot II, not immediate |
| Children | [Pe]du[bast], possiblyPedubast I Isetweret i Tadittanebethen |
| Father | Shoshenq Q |
| Mother | Nesitanebetasheru B |
| Burial | tomb atMedinet Habu |
| Dynasty | 23rd Dynasty |
KingHedjkheperre Setepenamun Harsiese, orHarsiese A, is viewed by the EgyptologistKenneth Kitchen in hisThird Intermediate Period of Egypt to be both aHigh Priest of Amun and the son of the High Priest of Amun,Shoshenq Q. The archaeological evidence does suggest that he was indeed Shoshenq Q's son. However, recent published studies by the German EgyptologistKarl Jansen-Winkeln inJEA 81 (1995) have demonstrated that all the monuments of the first (king) Harsiese show that he was never a High Priest of Amun in his own right. Rather both Harsiese A and his son [...]du[...] – whose existence is known from inscriptions on the latter's funerary objects atCoptos – are only attested as Ordinary Priests of Amun. Instead, while Harsiese A was certainly an independent king at Thebes during the first decade ofOsorkon II's kingship, he was a different person from a second person who was also called Harsiese:Harsiese B. Harsiese B was the genuine High Priest of Amun, who is attested in office late in Osorkon II's reign, in theregnal year 6 ofShoshenq III and in regnal years 18 and 19 ofPedubast I, according to Jansen-Winkeln.
While Harsiese A may have become king at Thebes prior to Year 4 of Osorkon II, contra Kitchen, he certainly ruled Thebes during the first decade of Osorkon II's reign as Kitchen notes. Osorkon II's control over this great city is only first documented by two separate Year 12Nile Level Texts, which means that Harsiese had died by this time. If Harsiese was already ruling at Thebes earlier underTakelot I, it might help explain why Takelot I's own Year 5, Year 8, and Year 14 Nile Level Texts, which mention the serving High PriestsIuwelot andSmendes III—who were all brothers of Takelot I--consistently omit any mention of Takelot's name, as Gerard Broekman aptly notes in an article inJEA (88 (2002)). Takelot I's name is left deliberately blank here. This might indicate a possible rivalry between Takelot I and Harsiese A at Thebes. The Amun Priests may have chosen not to involve themselves in this dispute by omitting any mention of the reigning king's name.
His tomb was found during excavations atMedinet Habu in 1932.
According to a 1994 book by the English EgyptologistAidan Dodson, King Harsiese:
was buried in a tomb within thetemenos at Medinet Habu, in the trough of a granite coffin (JE 60137) made forRamesses II's sister,Henutmire, (and) closed with a hawk-Headed lid. When cleared, fourcanopic jars were found....No trace of any lids have survived, suggesting that such items may have been of [perishable] wood[.](p.92)[citation needed]
Dodson notes that Harsiese's coffin is similar in style to the hawk-headed silver coffin ofShoshenq II, and to the surviving "traces of the gilded coffin and cartonnage of Osorkon II" (pp. 88–89).
